The first speaker at UW-Eau Claire’s The Forum this year was AC Dumlao, an activist and advocate for LGBTQ+ and Filipinx rights.

The Forum hosts two talks per semester with the goal of making the campus a more culturally educated place.

“Staff members, and three community members. We try to get voices from all over campus and community in order to bring in different perspectives and create valuable conversation that sparks understanding and learning,” said Brinna Johnson, the coordinator for the event.

A Vassar College graduate, Dumlao started their career after college. Their need to advocate for human rights arose during the 2016 presidential campaign. As a young adult living in New York City, they realized the harmful rhetoric that was surrounding the city. 

“It made me really see my position as a queer person, a person of color, a person with immigrant parents,” Dumlao said. “Basically, all of these aspects of myself were being attacked every day in the news. And it made me want to speak out.” 

As a way to voice their thoughts, Dumlao created the Facebook page Call Me They. In it, they would speak out on the injustices that they witnessed. 

The way they speak on these issues is not separate. Dumlao looks at the concept of intersectionality as a way to explore the world.

“I can’t isolate the queer part of myself from the Filipino part of myself. They speak to each other,” Dumlao said. 

Slowly, people started asking them to talk at universities and write articles about their posts. Dumlao said this was not the initial intent. 

“It came from me sharing my perspective, my identity calling out what I saw as harmful to my communities,” Dumlao said. 

Dumlao has given this talk, titled “Call Them by Their Name,” since 2017. In it, they go into their life from childhood. Dumlao explores their career through all the names they have gone by as a road map to share their life experiences. 

“I want people to get to know me and not just see me as an online page,” Dumlao said.

The talk begins in early childhood, when at age 3, they went to Catholic school. Dumlao explains their experience growing up and how they identified in the early stages of their life. 

The activist shared their nickname and how they expressed themselves at school.

“I found a lot of solace in theater. I love theater. I love to play pretend,” said Dumlao. 

In high school, they portrayed a male character, yet it wasn’t until after college that they explored the concept of being non-binary. 

“When I told my girlfriend, wife today, there was a still moment of rawness and trueness that led to her being her loudest ally,” Dumlao said. “In that moment, we knew our intention was to love each other, and we were able to get through the other side of it.”

With the Facebook page growing, AC, their initials, became their “professional business armor persona.”

As more people found the page, Dumlao said they met other allies and activists and became able to grow confident in who they are as a person. 

“It’s through my gender and sexuality that I created Call Me They, and it’s through that I grew closer to my Filipino identity,” said Dumlao. 

However, being put in the spotlight has its downsides, and Dumlao started getting hate emails criticizing the movement. They acknowledge it is the prize of being loud, still, Dumlao feels grateful for their career and where they stand now. 

Dumlao said they thank the theater for taking them to their latest stage of self-identity. They were able to play in a production of “Rent” as the character of Angel.

Though they were hesitant at first, their director told them Dumlao could interpret the role however they felt comfortable, so they created a non-binary version of the character. 

As rehearsals progressed, they started enjoying the idea of being called Angel and going by masculine pronouns. 

“I realized I feel really great when people call me him — usually by accident, it felt really freeing,” Dumlao said.

They are aware this does not mean they are at the end of their journey. Identity changes as the person grows, but they know it is how they express themselves now. Now, they are happy to present themselves as AC Dumlao, he/they. 

Orozco can be reached at [email protected].